RCS Albury Wodonga Campus

The Campus

The Rural Clinical School Campus at Albury Wodonga opened in 2000. In 2007, the campus moved to a new purpose-designed building to accommodate the rapidly growing staff and student population.

The Albury Wodonga campus underwent a significant upgrade in 2012 with a multi-million dollar expansion. The teaching capacity of the facility was approximately doubled with the additional of more tutorial rooms as well as signficant upgrades of computer labs, simulation rooms and student / staff common rooms.

The Albury Wodonga Clinical School Campus has become the focus of both undergraduate and postgraduate education since it opened and students are invited to participate in all the activities. The campus accepts full time students in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6.

The Location

Albury is located on the major inland Sydney to Melbourne corridor - the Hume Freeway. Albury is four hours from Melbourne, three from Canberra and six from Sydney by road. It is on the main rail line between Sydney and Melbourne and Regional Express, Qantaslink and Virgin Australia have multiple flights daily to Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. By air, Sydney is approximately one hour and ten minutes away and Melbourne is 45 minutes.

The campus is located at 559 East Street, Albury which is adjacent to the Albury Campus of Albury Wodonga Health.

The City

The cities of Albury and Wodonga combined are one of the largest inland population centres in Australia with over 90,000 people living within the immediate region. Albury Wodonga services outlying regions north past Holbrook, east to Corryong, south to the snowfields and west to Deniliquin.

The Attractions and Recreational Activities

There are excellent leisure and recreational facilities for winter and summer. With the Hume Weir only 15 kms east of the city, there are a plethora of water sports to experience. Activities include sailing, canoeing, water-skiing, kayaking and fishing. Paragliding, parachuting, bike riding on trails from the Murray to the mountains, bush-walking and virtually all ball sports are provided in the area. In winter, skiing and snow sports at Falls Creek, Mount Hotham and Mount Buller are only 90 minutes away by car. There is a helicopter service between Falls Creek and Mount Hotham - ski two resorts in one day!

There are festivals throughout the year celebrating local wine and food, sport and jazz. The Rutherglen wineries and restaurants are among some of the best in regional Australia. Albury Wodonga is a centre for art, music and theatre, with its own Hothouse Theatre and Flying Fruit Fly Circus, classical choirs and orchestra. Shopping is great with Myer, Sportsgirl, Freedom, JB Hi Fi and Harvey Norman to mention just a few familiar “big city” names.

The Education

The Albury Wodonga campus offers students access to:

5 Major hospital facilities

100 plus GPs with 25 GP clinics in Albury/Wodonga with additional clinics in the outlying areas

Phase 2

Twelve students per year are allocated to the Campus to do their Clinical Coursework in phase 2. This is the same program as is run in the metropolitan area. The teaching program is run over two semesters and consists of courses in Society and Health, Oncology, Adult 1, Adult 2, Beginnings Growth and Development and Aged Care.

All of the required lectures and tutorials are taught at the Campus. The Campus days which Sydney students experience are also provided in a variety of ways. There are visiting lecturers in Microbiology and Infectious Disease (Professor Hazel Mitchell and A/Prof Debbie Marriott) who visit the Albury Wodonga Campus to provide the teaching program for the students of both Albury Wodonga and Wagga Campuses. Other teaching days are held in Wagga , eg, Palliative Care, when Albury students travel to Wagga and both campuses join for a Farm Safety day at a local property.

The combined study days are very effective and allow for further camaraderie between students of the different campuses.

With the input of the visiting specialists and the local specialists, the clinical program of Phase 2 can be provided very successfully at the Albury Wodonga campus.

Students are encouraged and are welcome to stay for Phase 3 at the Campus.

Phase 3

Our usual commitment for Phase 3 is 18 students in each of Years 5 and 6.

The Phase 3 program consists of 10 modules – Medicine, Surgery, Children’s Health, Women’s Health, Mental Health, Primary Care, two Selectives, an Elective and PRINT. Also included during Phase 3 is four weeks of Critical Care and Emergency. All of these modules can be provided at the Albury Wodonga Campus of the School. The program works on a two year cycle. Medicine and Surgery must be completed in Yr 5 and in combination with a Bio Medical Sciences module. These are held in Semester one Year 5. In the last two terms of year 5, TP3 and TP4, students may do either Children’s Health and Women’s Health or Primary Care and Mental Health. Student’s progress into Yr 6 and whichever modules they have not completed in Yr 5 will be provided for them in Yr 6 leading up to their final exam at the end of TP3. PRINT will then follow to complete the Medicine programme

With such a small cohort of students and large numbers of patients all of whom are only too happy to see students, and the enthusiastic teachers, Albury Wodonga can guarantee a worthwhile experience for students who elect to come for Phase 3. Our aim in this last two years is to give the students as much clinical experience as possible leading up to their graduation and starting work as competent interns.

For further information on either Phase 2 or Phase 3, students should contact the Head of Campus or his representative at the Albury Wodonga Campus: 02 60 421311.

Independent Learning Projects (ILP)

Several ILPs are currently available for students to complete in the Albury Wodonga region and be attached to the Campus. Please see 2018 ILP projects on offer for Albury Wodonga. Details of these can be obtained by contacting the Head of Campus, Dr. Mark Norden.

Library and Computer Facilities

The Albury Hospital maintains an excellent library service with librarian. All relevant textbooks from the biomedical library of UNSW are housed in the library or in the Clinical School building for student use. Quiet study areas and modern computing facilities are also provided.